WeChat begins censoring users ahead of China's National Party Congress

Expect to see plenty of censorship news coming out of China over the next week.

Expect to see plenty of censorship news coming out of China over the next week.

The country's National Congress is a hugely influential political summit that takes place every five years and includes the selection of central party leadership. It is also a time when Chinese censors are on high alert, particularly when it comes to online media.

The next summit, the 19th, takes place on Wednesday and is likely to last around a week. Already, on the eve of the gathering, we have the first glimpse of internet restrictions for Chinese users.

WeChat, China's top messaging app with over 800 million registered users, has prevented its users from changing their nickname, profile photo or tagline until the end of October, as noted by WeChat expert and ChinaChannel blogger Matthew Brennan.

It may seem subtle but it is a move to prevent the spread of political ideas and opinions that Beijing would prefer kept silent through user profiles and alias updates, a common form of expression that reaches beyond a single conversation.

Eve of the 19th party congress: WeChat suddenly announces users are blocked from changing avatars, nicknames and taglines till end of month pic.twitter.com/QoEMnY1eyF

Airbnb is another foreign company that has been impacted by the upcoming congress after it removed all availability in Beijing during October.

"Due to external circumstances, homes in certain areas in Beijing are unavailable through October 31," the company told Beijing-based hosts last week, according to Reuters.

These disruptions are just the tip of the iceberg. Beyond long term blocks on Facebook, Twitter, Google and other Western internet services, China has increasingly cracked down on freedom of speech online in recent years under President Xi Jinping.